Beyond the Big Crunch of Excel: The Big Bang of Digital Visualizations

Marcus Adams

April 10, 2019

At a time when slide rules roamed the land…

…one man, JonJohn Snow, would dare to visualize…

…and change public health forever…

Plots in the Time of Cholera

If You Mustache For Advice

Some References

And Some More

Even More….

Be Purposeful

Philosophical Considerations

Pragmatic Considerations

If it’s a statistical control chart, don’t put on specs. Use a histogram

Be Deliberate

Tufte Says..

Hierarchy of Visual Comparison

Be Consistent

Then There Was Excel…

Now Entering the World of Digital Visualization

Digital Visualizations Vs Digital Production

  • Two Approaches Enter, One Approach Leaves
  • Digital Visualizations are inherently Digitally Produced
  • Not just digital producing static assets
    • e.g. digital printing has helped with late stage customization
    • think type setting vs. printers as we know them now
  • Digital Production has it’s pitfalls
    • Where we need to remember our design principles
  • Digital Visualizations have more capabilities/advantages
    • Requires viewing on a digital medium
    • Sets the stage for reproducibility, traceability, automatic updates

The Digital Triad of Power

  • Static Viz
  • Interactive Viz
  • Motion Viz

Static Digital Visualizations

Digital Job Aids and 3D Projections

Interactive Visualizations

Motion Visualizations

Combined and Beyond

Benefits

Analytical Benefits

  • Faster, better information
  • Large brain, small attention capacity

Compliance benefits

Sets the stage (not inherent) for * Reproducible research and reports * Automated or real time updates * Traceability

Conclusion

Remember

  • Start With Design Principles
  • Move Beyond Excel Defaults
  • Expand Use of Digital Media
Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns.
— Mitch Ratcliffe